A new philanthropic gift from Jeff Henley, Chairman of the Board of Oracle and a UC Santa Barbara alumnus, and his wife, Judy, will advance scientific research and technology innovation. The Henleys have committed $50 million to UCSB for the The Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE) at the University of California, Santa Barbara -- a world-ranked collaborative research campus that boasts five Nobel laureates among its faculty -- and its highly regarded College of Engineering.

Oracle Chairman's $50 Million Gift to UC Santa Barbara Supports Technology Innovation and Advances the Frontiers of Energy Efficiency: Alumni Jeff Henley's and Judy Henley's Donation to Fund Collaboration and Scientific Research at UCSB's Institute for Energy Efficiency and Colle

Redwood Shores and Santa Barbara, CA | Posted on May 13th, 2012

Gift Details

The Henley's investment helps propel the campus toward the $1-billion goal of its Campaign for UC Santa Barbara, a multiyear fund-raising effort. Jeff Henley, a 1966 UCSB grad with distinction, is the campaign's co-chair.

Of the Henleys' total pledge, $30 million will go toward Henley Hall -- the future base of operations for IEE to be named in honor of this generous gift -- and be invested in faculty recruitment for both the institute and the College of Engineering. The additional $20 million, in the form of an estate commitment, will support priorities of the College of Engineering.

In the face of ongoing state budget cuts, donations are critical to recruiting and retaining leading researchers, and providing them cutting-edge lab space. Henley Hall will see the world's brightest minds in materials, computing, optoelectronics, control systems, photovoltaics, and solid state lighting collaborate to innovate and advance the discoveries that will one day reduce, even reverse, the global growth in energy consumption.

Created in 2008, the Institute for Energy Efficiency today includes 50 faculty and 120 graduate and postdoctoral students collaborating on energy-efficient technologies. It has quickly come to be considered among the elite university-based centers for such research. With the Henleys' donation, UCSB hopes to inspire additional philanthropy to complete the funding required for Henley Hall, plus support faculty recruitment and IEE operations.

Longtime benefactors of the campus, the Henleys' investments in UC Santa Barbara include the Jeff Henley Endowed Chair in Economics, currently held by Nobel Laureate Finn Kydland. They have also furnished significant support for the College of Engineering and many other areas across campus, including intercollegiate athletics. Judy Henley provided the conceptual design for the Henley Gate. Jeff Henley chairs the IEE's Directors Council and Global Advisory Board, and is a member of the College of Engineering Dean's Cabinet.

Jeff Henley is Chairman of the Board of Oracle. He was Oracle's Chief Financial Officer from 1991 to 2004. His full biography is available here.

Supporting Quotes

"This gift allows us to play an important role in supporting the priorities of the University and the College of Engineering, by significantly advancing the sciences and the Institute for Energy Efficiency," said Oracle Chairman Jeff Henley. "We hope to create new opportunities for research and discovery, and to support UC Santa Barbara's already strong commitment to preparing the next generation of scientists and engineers."

"The philanthropic leadership of Jeff and Judy Henley is deeply inspiring; we are thrilled by their vision and generosity, and excited about the momentum their gift provides as we launch the next phase of our billion-dollar Campaign for UC Santa Barbara," said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. "Jeff and Judy have contributed to our university in countless ways over the years, including the Henley Chair in Economics and the beautiful Henley Gate that stands as the iconic entrance to our campus. We are tremendously honored that this transformative $50 million gift for our Institute for Energy Efficiency and our College of Engineering -- the largest gift in the history of our campus -- will become part of the Henleys' living legacy at UC Santa Barbara."

"We generate most of our energy by burning fossil fuels, and at the rate we are going we will consume in a couple of centuries what took hundreds of millions of years to generate. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to change this trajectory and become far more efficient in our use of energy," said John Bowers, director of the IEE and the Fred Kavli Chair in Nanotechnology at UCSB. "We waste more energy than we consume, but with scientific and technological breakthroughs we can change that -- permanently. The Henleys' gift is key to enabling our existing faculty and new faculty hired in this important area to focus and collaborate on these important global problems."

"The Institute for Energy Efficiency is an excellent example of UCSB's interdisciplinary culture. Scientists here from many different disciplines collaborate to address large societal problems," said Pierre Wiltzius, the Susan and Bruce Worster Dean of Science. "This wonderful gift will help build a physical home for them to meet and translate their research into workable solutions."

"As a college and a university, we must ensure that we are advancing the broad state of knowledge that's going to help us long-term, while also making sure that we are capitalizing on the near-term benefits of what we produce -- which includes our students as well as intellectual property and technology," said Rod Alferness, Dean of Engineering at UCSB. "The Henleys' vital support -- especially critical given state-funding restrictions -- gives us the ability to do both of those things by creating extraordinary research opportunities for our faculty and students alike."

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